College Football Nation: Quarterbacks dominating the landscape

Running backs used to dominate college football. But now, it’s a quarterback’s world, and everyone else is merely living in it.

By Eric Avidon/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

By Eric Avidon/Daily News staff

Posted Oct. 10, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 10, 2013 at 10:23 AM

By Eric Avidon/Daily News staff

Posted Oct. 10, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 10, 2013 at 10:23 AM

» Social News

It’s a quarterback’s world, and everyone else is merely living in it.

Running backs used to dominate college football. Southern Cal seemingly had a stable full of scintillating tailbacks, from O.J. Simpson through Marcus Allen. Nebraska produced one power back after another, once seamlessly replacing Lawrence Phillips with Ahman Green midseason. Texas and Oklahoma ran over, around and through teams with the wishbone, and dotting the ‘I’ at Ohio State carried more meaning than just being featured during the halftime show (see Griffin, Archie).

The Heisman Trophy was the realm of running backs. Beginning in 1972 with John Cappelletti and ending with Mike Rozier in 1983, a running back won the award every year. And from ’72 through 1999, when Ron Dayne won the Heisman, a running back was considered the best player in college football 17 times.

Only seven quarterbacks won the award in those 28 years.

But beginning with Chris Weinke in 2000, it’s gone to a quarterback 11 of the last 13 years.

Slowly, as power running has been minimized everywhere except Wisconsin and the spread has become the game’s gospel, college football has been trending toward quarterbacks.

This season, it’s seemingly exploded.

Among the teams in this week’s AP top 10, just three have running backs of note — perhaps it’s no coincidence that all three are in the SEC (Alabama, Georgia and LSU). Meanwhile, none of the top 10 is without a superb quarterback.

The names are essentially a who’s who of college football this season, in order of their team’s current ranking: AJ McCarron, Marcus Mariota, Tajh Boyd, Braxton Miller, Kevin Hogan, Jameis Winston, Aaron Murray, Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, and Zach Mettenberger.

Not only are there top quarterbacks on all of the top teams, they’re making stats of the past look silly.

Back in 2002, not a single quarterback posted a passer efficiency rating of more than 170, and through 2010 only three times did more than two top the mark.

Then there were four in 2011 and 2012, with familiar names like Russell Wilson, Robert Griffin III and McCarron among them.

Winston’s rating is a ridiculous 213.9, and he’s not even the nation’s leader. That would be Baylor’s Bryce Petty at 229.61.

From 2002 through 2012, Wilson in 2011 had the highest rating, at 191.8.

Certainly some of the numbers — Petty’s and Bridgewater’s in particular — are skewed by the fact that it’s still the first half of the season and some teams — Baylor and Louisville in particular — haven’t played difficult schedules.

But Georgia’s Murray has played Clemson, South Carolina and LSU. Texas A&M’s Manziel torched the daunting Alabama defense. And Clemson’s Boyd made the Georgia defense look silly.

Page 2 of 4 - So why is this happening? Why are quarterbacks seemingly getting better while running backs are increasingly marginalized?

It’s the evolution of the spread.

When Florida State was lining up in the shotgun and slinging the ball in the 1990s, with the exception of the mobile Charlie Ward, the quarterbacks were unspectacular names like Thad Busby, Danny Kanell and Casey Weldon. Same thing not too far away at Florida under Steve Spurrier, where Danny Wuerffel, Rex Grossman and Jesse Palmer were airing it out.

Then came Tim Tebow, followed by Cam Newton, followed by Griffin, followed by Manziel.

In many cases, quarterbacks are one of their team’s primary runners as well as its passer.

Manziel ran for 1,410 yards last year in addition to throwing for over 3,700, and this year has gained 314 yards on the ground. Boyd, who threw for 3,896 yards and 36 touchdowns in 2012, also ran for 514 yards.

Mariota already has 338 rushing yards this year. Miller, despite missing almost two full games, has 233 rushing yards. And Winston, a redshirt freshman, has 135 yards on the ground.

It makes them nearly indefensible.

When spread offenses led by names like Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford ruled the Big 12 last decade, defenses were essentially helpless. Given six weeks to prepare, however, the defenses of the SEC were able to slow them in bowl games.

But now that quarterbacks their equal are everywhere, and with only a week to get ready even the defenses of Alabama, LSU and Georgia have been overwhelmed.

"I still don't know how (Texas) A&M was third in the country in total offense and scoring offense playing all those SEC defenses," Oklahama coach Bob Stoops sarcastically said last week after years of being on the receiving end of derisive comments from the Big 12’s neighbor to the east. "I have no idea how that happened. Oh, they got a quarterback. That’s right."

Now, everyone who’s anyone has a quarterback. They can all throw, and they can all run, and they’re dominating college football like never before.

It’s their world.

What We Learned

Where are the upsets, those wondrous unforeseen games that shape autumn Saturdays? Where are the upsets that define entire seasons, the upsets that bring the joy of the unexpected?

There was potential last weekend. But Ohio State squeaked past Northwestern in Evanston, surviving perhaps the toughest test it will face all season. Stanford held off Washington, moving on to future meetings with UCLA and Oregon still unblemished. And depleted Georgia squeaked past Tennessee in overtime to stay in the hunt.

"We hit a lot of adversity all day long and we had to push through it, find guys to step up and guys stepped up, made some big plays for us," Murray said after the Bulldogs’ 34-31 win.

Page 3 of 4 - They were each near upsets that would have shaken up the polls, and eliminated some from the chase for the national championship. Instead, the status quo remains, and there has still not been a single significant upset.

As the seventh weekend of the season dawns, and the release of the BCS standings nears, nothing of note has changed from the first weekend of the season.

There were a slew of FCS teams beating FBS teams early in the year, North Dakota State taking down Kansas State the most prominent. They perhaps promised a season of upsets.

But Alabama is still No. 1, Oregon is next, and Clemson after that.

The only top teams who have lost games — Georgia, LSU, and Texas A&M — fell to other top teams.

Losses will come. They have to, simply because as teams start playing exclusively in conference they’ll clash with one another.

Clemson and Florida State are due to play next weekend. Alabama and LSU will meet Nov. 9. Oregon and Stanford clash on Nov. 7. But none of those games will produce upsets.

And in a sense, upsets are needed.

Without upsets, there are too many unbeatens. Without upsets, Alabama, Oregon, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Louisville will all wind up undefeated, creating the most colossal mess of the BCS era.

Then again, a colossal mess might be the best way possible to kick the BCS to the curb.

Game of the Week

Oregon, which has looked like the best team in the country so far, not once scoring fewer than 55 points and not once allowing more than 16, is on alert with a trip to Washington in a game that could very well provide a real shakeup to the current landscape. Florida and LSU clash in Death Valley, and Georgia, after barely beating Tennessee, must now play 5-0 Missouri.

But in a different way the most important game features an almost legendary coach gasping for breath, doing everything to hang on to a job that just a few years ago seemed like it was his for life.

On Saturday, at 11 a.m. in Dallas, Texas and Oklahoma will play their annual rivalry game, the Red River Shootout.

It’s perhaps Mack Brown’s final stand.

It was only four years ago that Brown took an undefeated Texas team to the BCS Championship Game, where the Longhorns put up a good fight against Alabama despite losing McCoy to an injury in the first quarter.

Since then, it’s been nothing but struggles. The Longhorns went just 22-16 during the next three seasons, but appeared loaded this year. Expectations were high. The years of mediocrity, unacceptable in a place like Austin, looked like they were over.

Page 4 of 4 - Then Texas got crushed by BYU in its second game this year, and was bludgeoned by Ole Miss the following week.

Calls have been made for Brown’s job. And a loss to Oklahoma like last year’s 63-21 humiliation — the Longhorns’ third straight loss to the Sooners — might get those calls heard.

"We're worried about what we can control, and what we can control is how we play and I'm overloaded with that," Brown said Wednesday when asked about outside distractions. "We're in our offices working hard. ... There is no giving up, no quitting in this coaching staff. They’re all getting along and all doing great. Winning matters. That’s it."

Well, so does losing if it happens often enough, and unfortunately for Brown, the way his team and Oklahoma’s have played so far makes it look like the Sooners will roll.

Texas, which is 3-2 after a controversial win at Iowa State, giving up a sieve-like 28.4 points per game. It’s rushing defense ranks 119th out of 125 FBS teams, allowing 248.4 yards.

Unbeaten Oklahoma, meanwhile, though not scoring with the same proficiency it did with Jason White, Bradford, and Landry Jones at quarterback, still puts up 31.2 points on average. More importantly, it allows only 13.0, sixth-best in the country.